MDG is doing things a little different this time. They've made an early release of 1.3 available before waiting for a feature-complete release candidate. If you are brave, check it out! Meteor 1.3 includes the new module system and many other improvements. To see what's in store, take a look at the milestone.

This approach to releasing new versions is great! Having the community get a chance to try out the betas and voice concerns early keeps the discussions on-going. MDG being more open with their ideas, visions, and current projects keeps the community involved, and that's not a bad thing.

ZenActions is a simple tool to reuse business logic in the view layer. Abhi talks a little more about this in this interview as well. It allows you to separate your logic from your actual framework. That way, if you switch what view layer you use, it will not be as big of a hassle to make sure everything works the way it should.